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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Writing Prompt: 9/9/10 Ode to Delicious Things

By Marilyn Friedman

Do you want to feel delicious? Spend some time with your muse! Write that book, short story, or screenplay that you've always dreamed of finishing. Here are some ways to make your creative dreams come true:

Call 323-333-2954 to sign up for the retreat or classes before they are full!

Writing Prompt: This writing prompt is inspired by my weekend in Seattle where I ate many delicious things including the best clam chowder in the world!

Make a list of 5 things that you think are delicious. Pick one item off of your list and spend 10 minutes writing a short ode to it. Then post the results in the comments of this blog!

Here are some ideas for what you could write about: what do you specifically love about it? Where do you eat or drink it? Make up a simile for that food--(what is it "like" or "as"?). In the sample poem below, Marge Piercy says that coffee is "dark as the waters flowing out of a spooky swamp." Use Marge Piercy's wonderful poem as inspiration, but your piece can be much shorter!

In Praise of Joeby Marge Piercy

I love you hotI love you iced and in a pinchI will even consume you tepid.

Dark brown as wet bark of an apple tree,dark as the waters flowing out of a spooky swamprich with tannin and smelling of thick life—

but you have your own scent that evenrising as steam kicks my brain into gear.I drink you rancid out of vending machines,

I drink you at coffee bars for $6 a hit,I drink you dribbling down my chin from a thermosin cars, in stadiums, on the moonwashed beach.

Mornings you go off in my mouth like an electricsiren, radiating to my fingertips and toes.You rattle my spine and buzz in my brain.

Whether latte, cappuccino, black or Greekyou keep me cooking, you keep me on line.Without you, I would never get out of bed

but spend my life pressing the snooze button.I would creep through wan daysin the form of a large shiny slug.

You waken in me the gift of speech when Iam dumb as a rock buried in damp earth.It is you who make me human every dawn.All my books are written with your ink.

Comment on this blog! Write about something you think is delicious. The best mini-story of August/September will win a free class! All comments will receive likes and remembers from Marilyn.

12 comments:

Victoria
said...

Boarding Flight 3 from Los Angles to the Dubai International Airport, we sauntered into out first class pods, handing our bags, Louis Vuitton no less, to the slightly uppity but boasting a professional smile, stewardess…oh I mean flight attendant. Settling in for our 23-hour jaunt across the world, I immediately accepted a second flight attendant’s offering of a glass of Pierrer Jouet champagne in the cutest mini flute. The golden potion slipped down my throat effortlessly; I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and knew I was back in one of my most favorite familiar places. A place where illusion intersects reality and the mind is invited to wander with little interruption. An anonymous place where you are categorized only by the seat you occupy, and maybe the fabric of your clothes or make of your watch.

I always appreciate travelling with him. He knows how to take care of the details and insure you will be taken care of…two things I have been seeking in a man for years. Yes, Mr. Miracle does deliver when it comes to first class. So I cuddled up in my cashmere wrap, sipped a third glass of champagne and waited for lift off. To me that instant when the tires leave the ground and you officially are suspended in air moving towards a new adventure, no matter what the destination…that is a delicious moment to be savored. As fine as a piece of Spanish chocolate and complex as a smoky jazz trio…it's simply delicious!

Oh, that does sound delicious! I want to be there in the plane with the narrator and Mr. Miracle, who is one of my favorite character names.

I love that the champagne is described as a golden potion, I love "where illusion intersects reality", I love cuddling up in the cashmere wrap, and "the instant when the tires leave the ground and you are suspended in air towards a new adventure." Fabulous!

Most dances start off slow and then begin to go fastIsn’t the most fun song at a wedding often the one that comes last?But the Truffle Shuffle is a most delicious dance that I have foundIt starts off heart poundingly fast and then suddenly slows down

First I see it on the menu and my eyes grow big and wide My toothy grinned head bounces from side to sideI sing a little song, telling the table of my loveWildly gesturing with my hands flying above

The anticipation still soaring, and I can smell the truffle in the airWhen the plate is put down my body does a silly jig in my chairI have to slow down enough to grab a fork and eat it rightThe first mouthful a contradiction of rushing and freezing time mid bite

The rich savory sensation fills my mouth and everything slowsMy body relaxes and focuses on the taste, my eyes dreamily closeI am barely moving and can hardly remember my nameThe Truffle Shuffle is one delicious dance for which I have no shame

It always feels like its gone before I know it came. With Fall comes rusty leaves, wispy hair, a scarf or two, and pumpkin everything.

When I was a kid, Dad used to make home-made pumpkin pies out of real pumpkin filling. That midnight sneak-a-bite turned into a 2-month long obsession that started October 1st and ended after Thanksgiving.

The only problem is that now, Pumpkin season has bled into September and December. And Pumpkin spiced lattes from Starbucks and Pumpkin muffins (for breakfast, mind you) are bleeding onto my thighs at a very rapid pace.

See, the thing about Pumpkin is not that its just a squash. Yes, it tends to be healthy. But its the cinnamon, the nutmeg, the allspice that are the warming qualities.

The combo of all the spices with the delectable pumpkin is not something that can be replicated with an acorn squash or even a butternut squash. I mean, who ever heart of butternut squash lattes?

Alas, pumpkin season is here. I will carve faces and eat crunchy, baked seeds. I'll wait patiently for my moderate (this year) once-a-week latte, and I will openly eat those homemade pumpkin pies whenever I can-- midnight or noon.

Mary Lorraine--I really enjoyed your poem! You had so many fun rhymes and great descriptions of the narrator's delight in eating truffles. I could see and experience the truffles along with her so clearly! I also love "the silly jig in my chair." Great job!

I really enjoyed your piece! I love that Pumpkin Season has bled into September and December and also the narrator's thighs (hilarious!). I love the warming qualities of the allspice, cinammon and nutmeg. And I loved the last paragraph so much :"I will carve faces and eat crunchy, baked seeds. I'll wait patiently for my once-a-week latte, and homemade pumpkin pies."

What a lovely poem! I love all of your examples of how the soup is a marker of the season (and the great details in the setting that go with the soup and the season). You had many delicious, beautiful lines like:"One by one, vegetables go in, swirling in steaming amber broth. Table set with gleaming round spoons,Creamy butter makes pools in the bread"

Yummy! I'm going to have to have some soup for lunch now because I am craving it after reading your poem.

It worked for me in high school, it worked for me in college. It works for me on road trips, it works for me when I am broke. It works for me when I have money, but want simple. Grilled Cheese Sandwich, French Fries, and a Hot Fudge Sundae. The comfort of warm melted cheese, the illicit excitement of French Fries, and the coup de grace that makes life worth living, sweet vanilla ice cream drenched in dark, creamy hot chocolate, with a little whipped cream on top. The Holy Trinity can be obtained at cheap prices with bulk discounted flavored ingredients at coffee shops. I have also enjoyed the Holy Trinity done up foodie style at Campanile. Some restaurants use melted Guittard chocolate instead of Hershey's syrup...it's always good times. The Holy Trinity is timeless and constant in its ability to provide fortification and reassurance that life is good.

Zoe--I love this piece! I love the "holy trinity" of Grilled Cheese Sandwich, French Fries, and a Hot Fudge Sundae. I love the repetition of "it worked for me"I love that the narrator enjoys Hershey's syrup AND Guittard chocolate equally and how much happiness the trinity brings the narrator!